Growing up, I've always thought that I had such a unique last name. It is so unique that some males in our country bear this as a first name. Yet at the same time, it is also a common name because it is the name often used in local folklore and tales. On the other hand, my first name is very common. I remember in grade school, I had 2 other classmates who had the same name as I. Although spelled differently, it sounded the same and thus, when called upon for recitation, the 3 of us looked at each other first before figuring out which one was being called (why do gradeschool teachers call you by your full first name rather than your nickname, like in college?). Common first name but very unique last name, I knew that no one in my batch, or even in the other batches, shared my last name except for my siblings. Mind you, I went to a huge Catholic school where there were 45 students per class, 10 sections per year level and I was very sure that only my siblings and I carried the name.

Until one day, I found out that there was another girl who shared not just my last name but also my first name! Though her name is a more sophisticated and exotic version to my saintly, virginal one, we often use our nicknames.

One day, I was blog hopping and found her site. I left a comment on one of her posts. In return, she visited mine and left a message on my tag board. Well, you know how the system goes. :) I left a message at her tagboard, thanking her for visiting my blog and how I found hers. Then I dropped the bomb "By the way, wanna know something weird? We have the same name."

She told me she learned of my existence more than a year ago and I told her how I learned of hers. We were both happy to finally meet each other albeit virtually. We exchanged stories on how some people would mistake us for the other. She told me her boyfriend was just as shocked as she was that there was another girl with the same name as hers and even said, "There's two of you?! The world is not big enough!" True. True. It was weird yet very cool.

I'm glad that not only is she very nice, down to earth, approachable and cool about this, she is also beautiful and intellectual (haha! feeling close na kami!). So who is she? Visit her site: Calamansi.

What about you? Have you met your name doppelganger?